I Freaking Love Comic Books--Hangman Hits The Nerd Trifecta!!

Look, I know we all think we're pretty cool and post-modern and ironic and hip and knowing,

 But I'm here to tell you that your grandparents were doing geek mash-ups long before silly fanboys.

Our story starts, as they all do, with respected scientists making amazing discoveries:

And it's real, too:

But, as inevitably happens...

DINOSAUR!!!! Ding!!

Well, that's pretty not cool!!

Fortunately, the Hangman is on the scene, and he commandeers some construction equipment!! There's absolutely no chance this won't work!!

Uh-oh...I guess dinosaurs are much tougher than we thought!!

So our unstoppable T-Rex goes on a nationwide slaughter spree. And when I say nationwide...

Wow!!! All the way to San Francisco!?!? On foot?!?! That is one crazy tyrannosaur!!

Ahh, but is there a method to the madness?!? Hangman manages to deduce that the beast's next target will be a defense plant in New Jersey!! So with the help of the workers there, he sets a trap--with tanks!!

Well, that didn't work!! Gosh darn, dinosaurs are far tougher than Land Of The Lost led me to believe!!

Ah, but the attack did have one benefit...

WHAT!?!?

Yes, ROBOT!! DINOSAUR!!! Ding ding!!

So a quick trip into the brute's mouth reveals...

NAZI!! ROBOT!! DINOSAUR!!! Ding ding ding!!! That's nerd bingo, everyone!!!! The trifecta!! The ultimate mash-up!! In 1942!!

Now, if you think about it, this plan is so crazy it's brilliant. A) Invent an unstoppable robot T-Rex B) Pretend you've discovered a real T-Rex, and bring him to America a la King Kong C) Pretend that he escapes D) Send him on a nation-wide quest of destroying defense plants.

Seriously--that's amazing. The Red Skull wishes he ever had a plan this good!! Of course, you might ask, why only one? Why not smuggle a couple of more in and do some real damage? And hell, why not deploy some on the battlefields Europe and Africa, especially if they're so tank-proof?!?

(Duh...this was the only prototype, Professor Gonig's being caught prevented more from being built, because of course he only kept the plans in his head, and the Third Reich didn't have enough resources to build more).

Anyway, the Hangman really doesn't like saboteurs in Nazi robot dinosaurs, so...

Are there steep precipices in New Jersey? Just askin'...

Don't worry, folk--the traitorous Nazi scientist and henchmen are dead, but not the Hangman!!!

Bombs built out of the scrap of Nazi robot dinosaurs, to be dropped on Germany. Because our grandparents did ironic camp FOR REALS!!!!

From Hangman Comics #4 (1942)